With 14 of 16 members in our 2011 Critics' Panel voting, we naturally had to come to a gridlock. We have a two way tie with four votes apiece for The Tree of Life and Le Havre winning the Palme D'Or and in second place we have Pedro with three votes apiece for The Skin I Live In. We have one vote for The Artist, one for The Kid With a Bike and one person voted for Drive -- which must have crazy Vegas odds. I asked our 2011 panel to submit their winner predictions for the top three prizes and if they wanted to add anything further then we'd mention them as well.
Insert a dog, a shoeshiner by trade Bohemian who takes a stand against the system/local police force to help an illegal refugee in the shape of a child (Cannes major theme this year is about protecting them) and add the trademark Kaurismaki humor and according to the warmest applause reserved for a film yet in the Main Competition and we have ourselves a true contender and audience favourite in Le Havre.
Cannes is going to have a stellar Main Comp (Pedro, Ramsey, Lars, Dardenne Bros., Kaurismaki) but there are still plenty of unexpected no-shows this year. Making Venice extremely happy we don't find: Giorgos Lanthimos, Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud, Aleksandr Sokurov, Christophe Honoré, Lou Ye, Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Brillante Mendoza.
With only Alain Resnais’ Les Herbes Folles and Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch as possible upset win scenario's, Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet was the logical winner for France’s Louis Delluc prize of best French film of the year.